The present invention generally relates to assembled bacon slices and to processing by which they are made. More particularly, the invention relates to assembly features that result in bacon products which are made up of a plurality of slices or portions of slices that are joined together along respective longitudinal edges. As thus joined, the assembled slices are fully flush with one another and present themselves as a plurality of bacon slices or slice portions that lie side by side and in edge-to-edge relationship to one another. In an especially preferred embodiment, half-slice portions are thus joined together in order to provide a generally square-shaped assembled bacon slice that is especially suitable for use within food sandwiches.
In the food industry, it is often desired to provide food components in a ready-to-use form in order to save time and reduce the intensity of labor needed to prepare a finished food item or meal. This desire applies to the assembly of sandwich food items wherein reduced handling and increased uniformity of portion size and appearance are goals. At the same time, it is important to provide a finished food product such as a sandwich which avoids the appearance of using "processed" or "artificial" sandwich components. In industries such as the "fast food" restaurant business, there is often a desire to provide a finished product that has the appearance of having been carefully hand-prepared from customary sandwich "fixings" without actually requiring the investment of time and labor normally associated with such fixings.
Exemplary in this regard is the amount of time and attention which is needed when preparing sandwiches or other food products that incorporate bacon slices. When traditionally prepared, of course, bacon requires cooking, draining and handling of one piece of bacon at a time. In those instances where the bacon is to be placed upon a sandwich, a bacon slice is typically longer than desired, necessitating the further step of breaking the bacon in order to more closely coincide with sandwich sizing. Heretofore, approaches have been proposed whereby bacon is cooked by the industrial supplier and provided as a "precooked" bacon, thereby eliminating some of the time and labor required for cooking and draining of fat inasmuch as these steps are at least partially performed by the meat supplier.
Precooking of bacon slices does not always adequately reduce handling time and labor associated with having to size the bacon slices to fit the particular need. For example, many sandwiches are generally circular or square and have a diameter or length which is noticeably less than that of a typical slice of bacon. In these instances, further handling is required if it is desired to avoid excessive overlap of bacon outside of the sandwich. Additional handling time and labor is encountered by having to handle multiple slices of bacon because the typical sandwich would require two or more slices of bacon in order to provide a bacon layer throughout the sandwich. This latter concern has been addressed by bacon products which are generally round in overall shape. The objective of this type of an approach is to provide a bacon product that is suitable for use in sandwiches having round buns, such as "bacon burgers."
Round bacon products do not always enjoy wide consumer acceptance because these types of products give an overall impression of something that is somehow synthetic or processed. This concern has been addressed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,911, incorporated by reference hereinto. By the approach of this patent, a plurality of bacon strips are overlapped with each other and then cooked at the meat supplier, the cooking achieving a microwave "weld" at overlapping sections of the slices. These bacon assembly units may then be packaged by the meat processor, shipped, and removed from the package as a unit by the food preparer who then heats the bacon assembly unit and places it in the sandwich. The approach of this patent requires a specially designed assembly line in order to effect the overlapping of slices that is characteristic of the approach of this patent.
The present invention improves upon these various approaches and provides a completely natural and customarily processed bacon that includes multiple pieces assembled together in a manner which gives an appearance that is substantially the same as bacon strips which have been carefully hand-cooked, sized and placed on a sandwich or the like. The bacon assembly in accordance with the present invention retains the natural substantially rectangular appearance of bacon positioned within a sandwich while providing full surface coverage within the sandwich while avoiding overlapping assembly techniques and requirements that are characteristic of approaches such as those of U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,911.
In summary, the assembled bacon slices in accordance with the present invention are joined together along respective longitudinal edges in a manner which avoids slice overlap while still providing adequate assembly characteristics such that the food preparer need handle only a single food unit in order to have a supply of bacon that is properly sized for the sandwich or the like being prepared. The edge-to-edge assembled bacon slices are prepared by severing bacon bellies into portions, such as halves, and then stacking those portions one on top of the other. The stacked portions are then subjected to heating and chilling and, without requiring added binders or special pressure-exerting containers, the stacked belly portions are adhered together to a degree adequate to permit slicing of the multiple-layer belly assembly or log in a generally conventional fashion. The resulting slices are two or more partial bacon slices that are secured together by adjoining edges and without any slice overlapping. The resulting slices can be cooked and packaged as a pre-cooked product.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide a generally square bacon slice.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process for making a generally square bacon slice.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved pre-cooked generally square bacon slice and process for making same, such being characterized by an edge-to-edge assembly.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved bacon slice and process for making same without requiring added assembly compositions and/or pressure applying devices.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved generally square pre-cooked bacon product that avoids overlapping of slice components.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process and bacon product made thereby which can be carried out in existing bacon-making facilities and under typical bacon making conditions and procedures.
These and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be clearly understood through a consideration of the following detailed description.